


life's no fun without a good scare

by EmmyLouWho



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Candy, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Halloween, M/M, Scary Movies, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-27 22:32:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8419741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmmyLouWho/pseuds/EmmyLouWho
Summary: For the prompt: “I invited a bunch of people over to watch a horror movie and you’re the only one that showed up and it's kind of cute that you hide behind my back every time you hear creepy music” 
Halloween fluff ft: the lilac jumper, lots of sweets, and lots of cuddling





	

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from the song "This is Halloween" from the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Louis had really gone all out with his Halloween decorations this year. 

And by all out, he means that he hung a single plastic bat from the curtain rod in his living room and that he left the spider webs in his flat alone instead of sweeping them up like his mum had been nagging him to do for months. He liked to think that the real spiders living on them added authenticity. That was his excuse, anyway. 

So, maybe he wouldn’t be winning any awards for his interior design skills. But his Halloween _snacks_ , they were a work of art. 

He had carefully gathered the perfect selection of snacks, scoping out the supermarket and buying all the good stuff before the last-minute rush. Louis had a fairly large sweet tooth, and so he had taken advantage of this opportunity to buy as many sweets as he wanted without the cashier judging him. 

He was actually really excited for tonight. It was his first free weekend in ages; he’d been so busy with work that he hadn’t been able to hang out with his friends properly in weeks. Since it was Halloween weekend, he’d decided it would be fun to invite a heap of people over to his flat to have a horror movie marathon, eat tons of junk food and drink beer. 

Louis was just emptying out the last bag of crisps into a big bowl when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. It was a text from Niall. 

_Hey Lou , so sorry mate but ive been called into work at the bar last minute . call u tmrw!! Xx_

Louis frowned. He couldn’t be mad, since he knew that Niall needed all the extra bartending shifts that he could get in order to pay his way through uni, but he still felt disappointed that he wouldn’t get to see his friend tonight. He made a mental note to make sure he actually did call him the next day. 

He’d only gotten his phone halfway back into his pocket when it started buzzing again, this time with a phone call. 

It was Liam, his neighbour, who Louis had put in charge of bringing the alcohol.

“Hey, Li, did you get the beer?”

Liam just groaned at him through the phone. 

“Oh, don’t tell me you forgot!”

“No, I didn’t forget, you sod. It would seem that Zayn and I both have food poisoning.”

“What?”

“We ordered takeaway in last night from -”

“Not the dodgy Chinese place?”

“..um, yes?”

“Liam! You know better than that! Their food is always the same grey colour, no matter what you order!”

“I know,” Liam groaned again, sounding truly sorry for himself. “It was late, and it was the only place still delivering.” 

Louis put his hand over his face and resisted the urge to tell Liam off again. He wasn’t Liam’s mum, and it sounded like he was being punished enough, anyway. 

“So, I guess you’re not coming, then?”

“I’m so sorry, Lou,” Liam said pitifully. “I know how much you were looking forward to tonight.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Louis said. “Feel better soon, yeah?”

“I… oh,” Liam said, “I’ve got to go,” and suddenly the phone went dead. _Gross._

Louis stood with his hands on his hips in the middle of his empty living room. Right. So he might not have beer, and he might not have a few of his friends, but he still had plenty of snacks and plenty of people coming, so tonight would still be fun. 

Ten minutes later, Louis wasn’t so sure. Apparently his night really was doomed, because after hanging up with Liam, he’d had texts and tweets and Facebook messages from almost everyone he invited, cancelling at the last minute. He collapsed onto his sofa, pulled a bowl of jelly babies onto his lap and started to munch on them morosely. 

“I guess it’s just you and me, then,” he announced to his snack table. 

Immediately, there was a knock on his front door. 

_Spooky_ , Louis thought to himself. Quite appropriate for the evening, really. 

He opened the door to find Liam’s friend from work, Harry, who Louis had only met briefly once before. He’d actually forgotten that he had been invited, to be honest. 

And yet, here was Harry, standing on Louis’ doorstep and looking lovely in tight black jeans and a purple knitted jumper. 

“Hi!” Harry said cheerfully, grinning at Louis and clutching a box of chocolates. 

“Hi, Harry,” Louis said, “come on in.” 

“You have a lovely flat,” said Harry, who was obviously trying to be nice because Louis’ flat was actually what he liked to call _homey_ , and everyone else liked to call _untidy._

“Um, I should tell you Liam’s not coming,” Louis said apologetically, “he and Zayn have come down with food poisoning.”

“Oh, that’s too bad.” 

“Actually,” Louis continued sheepishly, “I’m not sure anybody is coming. I’ve just had a load of people cancel on me last minute, and so far you’re the only person who’s actually showed up.”

“Oh,” said Harry. “Well, that’s okay. Unless - ” he quickly backtracked “ – unless you just want me to go home? I can do that if you’d rather be by yourself?”

“No,” Louis said quickly. “No, stay.” 

“Okay, I will,” said Harry, looking pleased. 

“The good news is, we now have all these snacks to ourselves!” Louis announced, leading Harry through to his living room. 

“Wow, not bad,” Harry said, examining Louis’ coffee table, which was overflowing with food. “I obviously didn’t need to bring this.” He held out his box of chocolates. 

“Ah, you underestimate my sweet-eating abilities. All donations are gratefully accepted.”

He took the box from Harry and added it to the selection on the table. 

They stood staring at each other in silence for a second. 

“Right,” Louis said, clapping his hands together, “should we put on a film then?” 

He picked up the pile of DVDs waiting next to the TV. 

“I have a selection of horror movie classics here, since you’re the only person who managed to show up you can pick what we watch.”

“Oh, um,” Harry said, looking a bit flustered, “that’s okay, you can pick.” 

“No, really,” Louis insisted, “what’s your favourite horror film?”

Harry glanced at the DVDs for a moment, then picked up the one sitting on top of the stack, handing it to Louis. 

“Oh, good choice! This is my favourite, too.” 

Louis opened the case and popped the DVD in to the player, grabbing the remote and sitting down in his favourite spot on the sofa. Harry was still awkwardly standing, looking unsure whether the should sit next to Louis on the sofa or whether he should take the empty armchair, so Louis took pity on him and patted the space next to him. 

“Come and sit next to me,” he said, “I might need you to hold my hand in the scary parts.” 

He winked at Harry to show him that he was kidding. He seemed nervous – Louis assumed that it was because he was the only person there, and so he was trying his best to make Harry comfortable and get him out of his shell. 

Harry blushed in response, but he sat next to Louis on the sofa all the same, so he was taking it as a win. 

Louis might have been joking about the hand-holding, but not five minutes into the film he was starting to think it might be a good idea. Harry had been creeping closer and closer to him since the opening credits, and though he hadn’t completely covered his face, he did have his jumper pulled up over his hands to make sweater paws which he was holding just below his eyes. 

When the murderer first came on screen, Harry suddenly jumped up. 

“Bathroom!” he yelled. “Um,” he amended, in a more normal volume, “may I please use your bathroom?” 

“Yeah,” said Louis, “it’s just around the corner.” 

He realised Harry was looking a bit pale. 

“Are you alright?”

“Yes,” said Harry quickly, “just peachy. I’ll be right back.”

The victim on screen began screaming, and Harry immediately turned on his heel and vanished from the room. 

Louis was starting to think he might know why Harry was being so weird, and his suspicions only grew when Harry didn’t return until a full ten minutes later, when the gory scene had ended. 

Louis smiled at Harry when he cosied back up to him on the sofa again. He offered him the bowl of sweets he had started eating while Harry was gone, and Harry’s face lit up.

“Oh, I love these!” he said. “Actually, they were always my favourite when I was a kid because my mum told me they were named after me.” 

Louis must have looked confused, because Harry’s grin just got wider. 

“Harry-bo,” he said, and Louis was hit with the sudden and overwhelming urge to kiss him. Instead, he occupied himself with opening a Curly Wurly, breaking it in half and offering the bigger piece to Harry. 

They sat in silence for ten minutes – ten minutes in which Harry flinched a total of twenty-six times, Louis was counting – before Louis finally took pity on him. 

“So,” he started, turning to face Harry, who looked like a deer caught in the headlights. “Not much of a fan of horror films, then?”

“Um,” said Harry. “No. Not exactly.”

Louis looked down to hide his smile. He pulled the fluffy throw blanket off the back of the sofa and threw it over the two of them, pulling Harry into his side.

“Better?” he asked softly. 

“Yeah,” Harry replied with a pleased smile. “Much better.”

They left the film playing, but Louis kept Harry distracted by asking him questions. If he hadn’t been completely enamoured with Harry before, hearing him talk about his family, and his cat, and how much he loved his job at the music shop was enough for Louis to develop a full-blown crush. 

They’d traded stories for the better part of an hour, and had worked their way through a ridiculous amount of junk food. Louis hands had somehow found their way into Harry’s hair, petting his curls as he relaxed against Louis’ shoulder. 

“Why did you even come tonight if you hate scary movies?” Louis asked. 

“I…” Harry started, ducking back into Louis as the killer appeared on screen again. “I kind of just wanted to spend time with you?”

_Oh._

“It’s not my thing, but I wanted to get to know you better, so.” 

“And you thought a group hangout where we watch a scary movie would be a good way to do that?” Louis asked, incredulous. 

“Well, I mean, it worked out in the end, didn’t it?” Harry said, pointing to the way they were cuddled up under the blanket, a bag of m&ms open between them. And – he had a good point. Louis might question his method, but he couldn’t doubt that in this instance it had been successful. 

“Hey,” Harry said, “do you think sometime I could take you out to see a movie that I will actually be able to watch without being scared?”

“I don’t know, Curly,” Louis said teasingly, watching Harry smile at the nickname. “If you being scared means cuddling then maybe I like it like this.”

“Oh, don’t worry, we can definitely still cuddle while we watch a Disney movie.” 

Louis laughed. 

“Yeah,” he said softly, finding Harry’s hand under the blanket and giving it a squeeze. “Yeah, I’d really like to go out with you sometime.”

Absolutely nothing tonight had gone the way that Louis expected, but he thought it was still by far his best Halloween ever. It only got better when Harry reached out with his free hand, cupping Louis’ jaw and slowly bringing their lips together. Louis could still taste the chocolate on his tongue. They ended up kissing long after the end credits had finished rolling, and the DVD had gone back to its menu screen. 

_Definitely_ the best Halloween ever.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Please let me know what you thought - comments and kudos make my day :)


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